Related papers: Astronomy and the Fall of Babylon
In a previous work, we establish that the acclaimed 'Arabic' records of SN 1054 from ibn Butlan originate from Europe. Also, we reconstructed the European sky at the time of the event and find that the 'new star' (SN 1054) was in the west…
We suggest an earlier date for the accession of the pharaoh Akhenaten of the New Kingdom in Egypt. His first year of reign would be placed in 1382 BCE. This conjecture is based on the possible witness of three annular eclipses of the sun…
The eclipses in binary stars give precise information of orbital period changes. Goodricke discovered the 2.867 days period in the eclipses of Algol in the year 1783. The irregular orbital period changes of this longest known eclipsing…
People have probably been watching the sky since the beginning of human history. Observers in pre-telescopic ages recorded anomalous events and these astronomical records in the historical documents provide uniquely valuable information for…
The search of a rational explanation of eclipses pervades the beginnings of philosophical and scientific thought. Within this intellectual frame, the knowledge of the "saros cycle" (a cycle of 18 years, 10 or 11 days and 1/3 of a day that…
Mathematical and astronomical achievements of the Islamic World during its golden era are briefly exposed. Thie article is based on the invited talk delivered remotely at the ICRANet-Isfahan Astronomical meeting, November 2-5, 2021, which,…
A re-investigation of the parapegma of Euktemon (5th century BC, Athens), based on the assumption that some star observations may in fact have been calculated rather than directly observed. The calculation follows Pliny, Natural History…
This paper discusses a recently proposed scenario of a climate-induced Collapse of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 11th century AD. It demonstrates that such a scenario cannot be maintained when confronted with proxy data from various…
It is widely believed that the advance of science in the Islamic world after the mid-fifteenth century A.D. suffered a decline. For the purpose of examining this belief, a manuscript by Qasim ali al-Qayini (ca. A.D.1685) was chosen based on…
Given that the cause for the strong increase in 14C in AD 774/5 in Japanese and German trees is still a matter of debate (e.g. short Gamma-Ray Burst or solar super-flare), we have searched in Arabic chronicles for reports about unusual…
Some of the narratives in the Pentateuch can be associated with known astronomical events to provide absolute dates for biblical chronology.
The mysterious 3rd magnitude long period eclipsing binary star system epsilon Aurigae is predicted to be starting its 2 year eclipse in the late summer of 2009. While this is when the real excitement starts, much is to be learned before…
We attempt to grasp the mathematics behind the planetary theories of the Syrian astronomer Ibn al-Shatir (1304-1375) in his treatise Nihayat al-Sul. Following the Maragha school of astronomers, by composing circular movements with constant…
The study examines the palaeoclimatic background and the regional manifestations of the Medieval Climate Anomaly in the Eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on the Byzantine Empire, but also including neighbouring polities. It explores the…
On April 1, 2471 bC an impressive, unpredictable phenomenon occurred over the Delta of the Nile: a total solar eclipse, with totality band almost centered on the sacred city of Buto, and with the capital Memphis very close (>95%) to…
During the first few centuries CE, the centre of the known world gradually shifted from Alexandria to Constantinople. Combined with a societal shift from pagan beliefs to Christian doctrines, Antiquity gave way to the Byzantine era. While…
This article presents twelve records of meteor showers in Arabic chronicles covering period from the 9th to the 19th century. The observations were in Egypt, Morocco, Syria and Yemen. These new addition historical records are considered to…
The lunar periods of our moon -- the companion of the Earth -- which date back to the Babylonians until around 600 BCE, are 29.53 days for the synodic, 27.55 days for the anomalistic and 27.21 days for the draconitic month. In this paper we…
The paper reassesses the largely neglected contribution of Avicenna (Ibn Sina, 980-1037) to medieval Tajik-Persian astronomy. Drawing on published primary and secondary sources, it reconstructs the main directions of his scientific activity…
It is known that Sir Isaac Newton suggested a date for the Passion of Christ in the posthumously published "Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel and the Apocalypse of St. John" (1733). What was not known is that the first attempts to…